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[SXSW Review] Fede Alvarez’s ‘Don’t Breathe’ Is Like Hitchcock On Crack!

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DON'T BREATHE poster via Sony Screen Gems

SXSW got off to a rollicking good start with the midnight premiere of Fede Alvarez’s new film Don’t Breathe last night. There was a lot of speculation surrounding the film as not much was known about it, and it turns out that’s the best way to view the film! Don’t Breathe is a masterclass in audience manipulation that proves Fede Alvarez isn’t a one-trick pony. It’s almost hard to believe that this is just his second feature film, but here we are and we have been gifted with this absolutely wonderful and fucking awesome film. It is one of the most tense viewing experiences I’ve ever had and should definitely be viewed with an audience.

The plot of the film is simple: Detroit teenagers Rocky (Jane Levy, Evil Dead, ABC’s Suburgatory), Alex (Dylan Minnette, Goosebumps, ABC’s Scandal) and Money (Daniel Zovatto, It Follows, ABC’s Revenge) and break into a blind man’s (Stephen Lang, Avatar, Gods and Generals) home thinking they’ll get away with the perfect crime. Little do they know that this blind man is incredibly adept at protecting himself and everything in his home. Think You’re Next had a baby with Panic Room and you’ve got Don’t Breathe.

To say any more about Don’t Breathe would spoil the fun of the completely unpredictable viewing experience. Formerly known as The Man in the DarkDon’t Breathe is a mostly silent film. In fact, it would be surprising if there were even 30 pages worth of dialogue in the script. Once the blind man wakes up, everything goes silent and we are left to Alvarez’s devices. It becomes immediately clear that he is running the show, and what a show it is.

Alvarez co-wrote the film with his Evil Dead co-scribe Rodo Sayagues, and their script, as minimal as it is, is exceptionally taut. This may seem like an odd compliment to give a film that maybe has about 20 minutes of spoken dialogue (and I’m fairly sure it’s even less than that), but Alvarez and Sayagues don’t waste a single minute of screen time. The whole thing is an exercise in suspense that would make even Hitchcock proud. Equally impressive are the extra-long tracking shots employed throughout the film. There were multiple times where I would be watching things transpire on screen and think “Is this still the same shot?” It’s absolutely hypnotic.

Jane Levy takes center stage here and boy does that honor come with a price. After what she had to go through as an actress during Evil Dead, it is surprising that she returned for an equally brutal treatment in Don’t Breathe. One scene in particular had the audience squirming in their seats, and it certainly makes one wonder why Levy isn’t getting more work. With this, Evil Dead and Suburgatory under her belt, the actress has certainly proven her worth to a project.

Faring equally well is Lang, who emerges as one of the silver screen’s best “villains” in years. Even as a blind man, he is an incredibly imposing figure. Don’t Breathe may not qualify as an actual horror movie, but Lang imbues the film with plenty of horror, and his casting pays off in spades. Minnette and Zovato are also great, although they are given significantly less to work with than Levy and Lang.

If there is one complaint to be had about the film it’s that it ends. Once the credits roll it dawns on you that this fantastic viewing experience has come to an end and you must carry on with your everyday life. In all seriousness though, I could have used a little more closure in the final reel, but that is a minor quibble in an otherwise solid film.

I could say a thousand more words about Don’t Breathe, but suffice it to say that I absolutely adored it. It was a fantastic way to open the festival and is exactly the kind of nail-bitingly tense adrenaline rush that audiences crave. The idea of overhyping a film bothers me a lot, and I feel like this review will do just that, but I refuse to mask my love for Don’t Breathe. I can’t wait to see what Alvarez has in store for us next!

Don't Breathe SXSW Review Fede Alvarez

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Austin, TX with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

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‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ Adds “Chucky” Actor Teo Briones and More to Lead Cast

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Chucky Actor Teo Briones
Pictured: Teo Briones in "Chucky" Season Two

The Final Destination franchise is returning to life with Final Destination: Bloodlines. With filming now underway, THR reports that three actors have joined the lead cast, including “Chucky” actor Teo Briones.

Brec Bassinger (“Stargirl”) and Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game) join Teo Briones, who played Junior Wheeler in season two of “Chucky,” as the leads in the sixth installment of the horror franchise.

Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (Freaks) are directing the fresh installment that also includes Richard Harmon (“The 100”, Grave Encounters 2), Anna Lore, Owen Patrick Joyner, Max Lloyd-Jones (The Book Of Boba Fett), Rya Kihlstedt (Obi Wan Kenobi), and Tinpo Lee (The Manor) among the cast.

Production is now underway in Vancouver.

What can we expect from the upcoming Final Destination 6? Speaking with Collider, franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick offered up an intriguing (and mysterious) tease last year.

“This film dives into the film in such a unique way that it attacks it from a different angle so you don’t feel like, ‘Oh, there’s an amazing setup and then there’s gonna be one wrinkle that can potentially save you all that you have to kind of make a moral choice about or do to solve it.’ There’s an expansion of the universe that – I’m being so careful,” Reddick teased.

Reddick continued, “It kind of unearths a whole deep layer to the story that kind of, yes, makes it really, really interesting.”

Final Destination: Bloodlines is written by Lori Evans Taylor (“Wicked Wicked Games”) and Guy Busick (Scream), with Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) producing.

Producers on the new movie for New Line Cinema also include Dianne McGunigle (Cop Car) as well as Final Destination producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor.

This will be the sixth installment in the hit franchise, and the first in over ten years. Each film centers on “Death” hunting down young friends who survive a mass casualty event.

The latest entry is expected in 2025, coinciding with the original film’s 25th anniversary.

 

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